Disclaimers: I do not own any of the characters or elements of Harry Potter and Nurarihyon no Mago. They all belong to their respective owners and I make no profit whatsoever from this story outside of my own enjoyment of writing it.
Summary: One day a strange boy appears at the entrance to the Nura clan's mansion.
Pairings: None.
Warnings: AU for Harry Potter (most will be explained at the end of this story or you're free to ask any unanswered questions after reading the story.) Dark but good willed-Harry. AU for Nurarihyon no Mago after episode 9. This story is based on the books of HP and the anime of NnM.
Japanese names will be written in their original form, meaning surname before given name. On that note, spoken Japanese by the characters will be written normally ("Spoken Japanese.") and English will be seen in cursive style ("Spoken English."). As an extra note, thoughts are written like this ('Thoughts for both Japanese and English.'), make sure you don't mix them up or it'll cause you some confusion. Explanations for Japanese terminology that I use can be found at the bottom of this story as well as a short background summary of Harry's past up to the start of this story.
Author's Note: I came across this new anime show the other day and immediately felt that I wanted to do a small crossover one-shot with HP (which happens with most series nowadays but I can't possibly do a story for each frickin' plot-bunny…there'll be no end of it). I, myself, really like this (which I should since I wrote it) but that's no insurance that you will. Anyway I hope you find this somewhat interesting, or amusing, to find the time to leave a review when done reading.
The Wizard of the Night Parade
'In the days of old, people feared yokai. The one who stood at the helm and ruled the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons was known as the Supreme Commander of the yokai. They had another name for him… The Lord of Pandemonium… Nurarihyon.'
- Intro to Nurarihyon no Mago.
It had been one of those rainy days, that by just looking out at the dark-grey and cloudy sky you could sense that something was going to happen. Usually this would mean that his subordinates were up to something and it would end up in the customary troubles that came with being the third heir to the large Nura Clan. Nura Rikuo was seen as an average 12-year-old boy by his friends from school, but at home and amongst allied yokai he was now officially the new young head of the Nura Clan, unless someone else challenged his position before his thirteenth birthday. A yokai was considered an adult at that age you see. However the position came with an immense responsibility, it was his duty to protect and take care of the smaller member organizations of yokai, which numbers ranges to a whole 10,000 in collected amounts.
Rikuo had learnt to expect that practically anything could happen around him, as it just did. He was to be proven that rainy day that one never would be able to expect everything and that life had a funny way of turning his head upside down just for the, yes, fun of it.
The rain hammered onto the umbrella as Rikuo's running feet splashed against the wet ground. He'd told Aotabo and Yuki-Onna to go on ahead home since Kiyotsugu-kun's meeting would take a while. He'd never quite grasped why the other boy was so fascinated with yokai but that might just be because Rikuo grew up around them.
The road back home from school was desolate and his shoes and pants from middle thighs down were completely wet. The rain refused to let up and kept up its insistent pouring. The small boy let out a sigh of relief when he was finally able to spot the mansion gate, the figures of Aotoba and Yuki-Onna spying worriedly down the road from beneath its protective roof. The female snow yokai 's face, upon seeing him, immediately burst into a large smile and gave a small jump in excitement, her long hair bouncing on her back and shoulders.
"Waka!" She called and waved a hand that was hidden under the arm's hem of her white kimono. "Rikuo-Sama! Are you alright?" She said as he came to a stop by the two and let his umbrella fall.
"I'm alright." He said, adjusting his oval glasses, and gave them a small smile in reassurance. He patted his black uniform, ridding at least the upper part of a few raindrops that clung to it and the red sweater beneath it.
"When we saw the rain we wanted to come and retrieve Waka, but Waka said we should wait for him here at home, so we did." Aotabo, a largely built yokai with a necklace of skulls, said with a mix of pride and concern. His grayish hair stood up in curvy pointers at the back of his head.
"You did well." Rikuo told them and the two lighted up at the praise.
"Waka, you are all wet! Please come inside so that you can change into new and dry clothes." Yuki-Onna said and grasped his hand to lead him to the front opening, not minding the water that fell on her as long as her master got inside fast enough.
"How was school, Rikuo-Sama?" Aotabo asked him as they got under the shelter of the mansion's main entrance.
Rikuo let Yuki-Onna take his umbrella to put it away for him and he was just about to answer the large yokai when he heard a crack in the air. At first he thought it was just the thunder until a wet thud followed the sound closely and he happened to turn towards the gate in curiosity because of it.
He spotted a dark lump lying just outside the gate, where there just moments ago had been nothing there, and gasped when he recognized the lump for a human. The pre-teen boy jumped out onto the cobbled pathway and into the rain again, ignoring the shouts of warnings from his subordinates as he sprinted towards the fallen human. His knees landed on the ground beside the, he could see now, slightly older boy and reached out his hands to carefully try and rouse the other awake.
"Hey, are you alright?" He asked and tried again but received no answer for his efforts of attempting to contact the unconscious boy.
He managed to roll the boy over onto his back and clapped him lightly on the cheek but this method was no better than the first. At this point he was joined by the two yokai as they both fell into a tirade, berating him for his reckless actions until a short order from said boy had them shut up and take a better look at the other boy on the ground.
"He's human." Aotabo said, after a closer look, and his worry for his master's safety was drained away to be replaced by curiosity. "How did he get here?" The yokai squatted down and pointed a finger in the unconscious boy's side to see if there was any reaction.
"Don't do that!" Rikuo scolded him and the yokai uttered a hushed apology. "We must get him inside." He continued without interruption.
"Rikuo-Sama! We can't bring an unknown human into the mansion!" Yuki-Onna said in a rush, but one look from Rikuo had her quiet down and sigh before motioning for Aotabo to lift the boy off the ground. "You heard Waka!"
The taller and bigger yokai easily, but carefully, grasped the human under the knees and shoulder blades as he lifted him off the ground. The rain hitting the boy's face and dark hair slid in tendrils across the pale skin. Rikuo, leading the way back into the mansion, warded off any errant or curious smaller yokai that had begun noticing them and who wanted to take a closer look at the boy in Aotabo's arms. When it became apparent that the boy was in fact human, Yuki-Onna wasn't so mindful of what she was saying, the yokais started chattering hurriedly amongst themselves, the news spreading like wild fire. By the time that Rikuo had managed to get the boy into one of the many guestrooms his grandfather showed up in the doorway with a hard and stern look on his face.
"Rikuo." He said with authority, his bald and elongated skull sticking out in the back. "What is the meaning of bringing a human into this mansion?" He stood tall despite his small height with his hands in the arm folds of his kimono.
Rikuo directed Aotabo to put the boy down on the tatami mat so that they could remove his wet clothing and put him in a futon, before turning to his grandfather.
"We can't just leave him unconscious and out in the rain, Jichan, he would die like that for sure," Rikuo answered. "Besides Kana-chan and the others have been here before." He added matter-of-factly.
His grandfather frowned and tried to say something more, but apparently in Rikuo's mind the matter was already solved as he told Yuki-Onna to go and fetch some dry clothes and Aotabo for some warm towels.
Meanwhile other yokais had started gathering in the opening behind the grandfather's back, in the attempt of snatching a peek at the mysterious guest that the young heir had suddenly taken into his care. Many eyes of various designs and sizes watched the short heir bend over the other boy on the floor and brush his dark raven hair away from the too pale and thin face. The unconscious boy's body looked to have been through a lot telling from what they could see of how his wet clothing clung to his figure.
The grandfather huffed loudly but seemed to accept his grandson's decision as one of fate's perks that came with having such a grandson as Rikuo. He had said that Rikuo was to be taking a lot more responsibility in and around the clan, and so he supposed he would just have to observe this with a cautious eye for the meanwhile. The older yokai turned around, setting his hard eyes on the observers, in turn scaring the yokais crowding the opening and scattering them in all directions. As he exited he saw that two yokais were still left and he eyed the two male yokais, Kubinashi and Kurotabo. They stood straight, feeling their nervousness building when the former and first Supreme Commander just stared them down.
"Keep an eye on that human." He said before shuffling down the corridor, muttering to himself all the while.
Kubinashi, his head floating above his shoulders, threw a look at the assassin monk to his left before they both tripped carefully inside the room, kneeling down and shuffling the rest of the way until they came close enough to get a decent look at the human in question. The boy was still out cold and in the process of being divested of all his wet clothing. They watched how Rikuo carefully removed the clothing as well as he could with how the fabric was sticking everywhere to the raven haired boy's skin. They saw the somewhat strange choices of clothing the strange boy had, boots that looked to be of some sort of leather, worn black jeans, a black t-shirt and dark grey jumper and a dark cotton zip-up jacket.
"Uhm, Waka?" Kubinashi spoke gently.
The young master put aside the last piece of clothing, the boy's shirt, to the side in a pile with the rest.
"What is it?"
Kurotabo tilted his head down, his sugegasa temporarily hiding his eyes from view, and cast a glance at the strange boy once more before focusing on his master.
"Who is this?" He asked.
"I don't know." Rikuo replied.
"You don't know?" The assassin monk replied surprised and confused, despite his earlier suspicions.
"Where did he come from?" Kubinashi jumped in, equally afflicted as the other yokai.
"We found him outside the mansion gate."
Rikuo turned to see first Aotabo and then Yuki-Onna come back into the room, closing the sliding doors in front of the yokais that had gathered there again.
"Found him-" Kurotabo started but was interrupted by the skull necklace wearing yokai as he put down a stack of lightly steaming towels next to the boy and the snow girl unloaded a simple beige yukata by the side.
"Yuki-Onna, go wait outside," Rikuo said to the girl yokai, being mindful of the other boy's dignity, and the girl did so after having have to be told one more time. They helped their master dry the boy's body and hair with the towels as soon as she had closed the sliding doors again behind her with a large pout.
"Help me put these on." He ordered the three. They worked silently, none of the three yokai knowing exactly how to approach their young master about the human. Finished dressing the boy Rikuo went to take one of the towels and placed it gently over the raven haired boy's forehead to help his cooled body gain some lost warmth. Making sure that the boy was properly tucked in he didn't notice the hesitant looks from his subordinates until he happened to throw a glance their way.
"What?" He asked them with lightly raised brows.
The three shuffled uneasily until Kurotabo cleared his throat.
"Rikuo-Sama, what do you intend to do with this human?" He said glancing from his master to the tucked in boy.
"Nothing really, I'm just helping him like anyone else would do." Rikuo shrugged.
"But you're the third heir, soon to be new supreme commander of the Hyakki Yako. You should not trouble yourself with the caretaking of an unknown human."
"If you so wish we will take care of this human for you Rikuo-Sama." Kubinashi added.
"No, it's fine everyone. Thank you for your concern but I want to do this." Rikuo replied with a soft smile.
"Waka is so merciful!" Aotabo cried out then but was shushed by the young heir for raising his voice so.
Rikuo stayed with the boy until a yokai came to deliver the message that dinner would soon be served. At first he hadn't thought the boy would need any guarding but his subordinates insisted and so he let Kurotabo stay to guard, but only outside the room so he wouldn't disturb the boy's rest.
A few hours later, having eaten dinner and done his homework, Rikuo decided to go and have a look at the boy to see if there had been any improvements to his condition. Outside the room Kurotabo still sat dutifully keeping guard and bowed his head as he saw the young master's approach. Standing up he greeted Rikuo properly.
"Any changes?" Rikuo asked him, hand coming to rest on the wood frame on the sliding door.
"None, Rikuo-Sama." The assassin monk reported as the shorter boy pushed the door to the side.
The young heir's eyes went wide as he saw that the room was empty. He rushed into the room, looking around. The boy was nowhere to be seen but the yukata they had dressed him in lay on the futon in a disheveled heap and the boys old wet clothes were nowhere to be seen.
"Where is he?" Rikuo asked worried and with a hard look at the stunned yokai.
"I don't know. I haven't heard or felt any changes inside the room." Kurotabo said, bowing his head and back in an apology.
The boy sighed deeply and threw a look around the room; the boy couldn't have gone out through the door Kurotabo had been guarding but what about the other one leading out into the center garden? His eyes fell on the sliding doors on the opposite side of the room and he could see that they were pried open just the smallest. He rushed to them, sliding them open and casting looks down in both direction of the wooden pathway. A shout to his right then, coming from the parlor, had him running down the pathway, Kurotabo close on his heels.
They were met with a strange sight of Kubinashi urging a group of smaller yokais to back off from what appeared to be a black cat in one of the corners. The cat was hissing for all it was worth at the yokais that tried to get closer and if one got too close it would swipe with its clawed paw to get the yokai to back away again. The small, childish yokais were greatly interested in the animal, laughing merrily even though it kept hissing at them. The cat on the other hand was far from being pleased with their treatment of it. Its fur stood on end, ears flattened and its tail's hairs were all frizzy.
"Stop that!" Rikuo shouted at them and the small yokais immediately retreated when they heard the tone in their master's voice, slipping out through the cracks in the roof and the walls.
"Waka!" Kubinashi called out in surprise during the disruption.
"What is going on here?" Kurotabo asked the blond yokai, eyeing the cat in the corner of his eye curiously but with an ounce of suspicion as well. "Have you seen Rikuo-Sama's guest?"
Unbeknownst to them, the cat stilled for a fraction of a second when it caught a glance of Rikuo, before it started letting out outdrawn mewls.
Rikuo's eyes fell on the cat, its dark, no raven, fur glinting as it bent slightly down to keep an eye on the three of them from their positions on opposite sides of the room. Its eyes glittered with a green color that was close to emeralds and he was momentarily stunned with them. He sunk down; knees bent and face adopting a soft and comforting expression.
"Don't be afraid. We won't hurt you. How did you get in here?" He tried soothing the cat. "Don't worry, you won't be harmed here. If you like I will show you the way outside." He continued.
The cat's mewls slowly stopped and it carefully rose and let its ears fold up again. It cast a wary but curious look at the boy but made no motion to move after that.
"Could it be from the Neko clan?" Kurotabo asked Kubinashi, as the neck less yokai was a good friend of the leader to that particular clan.
"I don't recognize it. I think it's just a regular cat and why would one of the Neko clan come here without properly announcing their arrival?" Kubinashi answered.
The two yokais sent glances to each other and their young master as he continued to send comforting words towards the cat. When it looked like the cat was going to approach Rikuo one of the sliding doors behind Kubinashi was roughly pulled open. It immediately backed into the corner again and hissed at the new arrivals.
"Rikuo! Stay away from that thing!" His grandfather shouted at him while the old yokai's eyes were trained on the cat.
"Jichan! What are you doing?" Rikuo called back confused.
"That is no regular cat." The bald yokai retorted while he held a guarding hand out towards the animal.
Rikuo frowned just as Kurotabo stepped in front of him to shield him from the, apparently, fake cat.
"Supreme Commander!" He called to Rikuo's grandfather.
"Waka!" Two voices called at once and both Yuki-Onna and Aotabo fell into room, rushing to Rikuo's side.
"Are you alright Rikuo-Sama?" Yuki-Onna asked him as she positioned herself in front of him, glaring at the small feline.
In the middle of this commotion the black cat was back to hissing violently again and the grandfather sent Kubinashi a short look. The yokai nodded, removing a long red string from his clothing and taking a few steps closer to the cat.
"No!" Rikuo shouted just as Kubinashi sent his string flying.
The events that happened next surprised them all when the black cat easily leapt away from the attack, however the most surprising was when the cat grew and morphed into that same pale boy that Rikuo had brought in just hours earlier.
Emerald orbs glowed as the raven haired boy hunched and tried to keep his eyes on all of them at once. He seemed very tired but completely focused. His eyes were foremost trained on Kubinashi and the grandfather, but his eyes flashed to the group surrounding Rikuo at close intervals.
"So you finally show yourself." The grandfather said with a hard small smirk.
The boy's eye flickered to the older yokai, eyeing him warily.
"What is it that you're after?" He continued but frowned when the boy neglected to give him an answer.
"Answer the Supreme Commander now!" Kubinashi yelled at the boy.
Said boy's eyebrows drew together and he seemed confused, almost as if he didn't understand what they were saying…
"Grandfather!" Rikuo called out, drawing both the yokai's and the boy's attention to himself. "I don't think he understands us."
"Don't understand us? What are you saying?" The older yokai growled out.
Rikuo directed his eyes onto the boy, pushing himself free of his bodyguards and gave the boy a cautious soft smile.
"It's okay."
The raven haired boy frowned lightly, flicking glances between the other yokais, the fuming old one in particular, before his eyes settled on Rikuo again.
"Where is this place?" His voice was hoarse and the tone of his voice let them fortify their beliefs of him being adolescent.
The boy's reply caused many confused looks and expressions though, since no one had understood a single thing of what the boy had uttered, but Rikuo's eyes alighted in comprehension.
"I think he's speaking English."
"English?" His grandfather replied incrediously, the surprising fact causing his hard expression to fall. "He can't speak Japanese?"
Rikuo drew his eyebrows together in a worried expression.
"I don't think so."
His grandfather heaved a large sigh, closing his eyes for a moment.
"Ah, how troublesome."
"Where am I?" The boy spoke up again, appearing to be asking them a question.
"Well, talk to him." The yokai said to his grandson.
"I can't speak English." Rikuo replied.
"You can't? Then why do you go to school?" His grandfather asked him annoyed.
"We just started learning it this year!"
"So?"
Rikuo let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose. This was getting them nowhere.
"Anyway," He said instead. "I think everyone should leave, you're scaring him and we won't get anywhere like that."
"Out of the question!"
"Grandpa! Trust me."
The older yokai grumbled loudly but eventually gave in. He eyed the group behind Rikuo and Kubinashi.
"They are staying."
"Fine."
The grandfather and the other yokais slowly exited the room, soon leaving only the five of them and the emerald eyed boy. While still outnumbered, this seemed to calm the boy somewhat with the departure of the bald one and Rikuo felt reassured in his decision.
"Be careful Waka." Aotabo said behind his back.
Rikuo took a step closer to the boy.
"Don't go too close Rikuo-Sama." Yuki-Onna cautioned him.
Rikuo stepped as close to the other boy as he thought he could before he sensed him tensing and he stopped. He was mindful to keep a calm and friendly attitude and expression so as not to alert the other boy when he tried speaking to him.
"…I…you…ing-rish…not…good…" He tried, really wracking his brain for all of the minimum knowledge that he had on the English language.
The boy appeared more confused at first before he nodded slowly.
"Okay."
"O-kay… Okay." Rikuo repeated in Japanese and smiled.
The raven haired boy stared at him for what appeared a long moment before he gave him a small, small smile but he was still very cautious and rightfully apprehensive of them considering what happened just before. He sent Kubinashi a wary look which Rikuo caught.
"Show him you mean him no harm." Rikuo ordered the blonde yokai.
The other yokai frowned at first but did as he was told, tucking away the red string and bowing his head in a show of an apology for attacking him. This seemed to ease the raven haired boy somewhat more and Rikuo smiled seeing that they had started moving in the right direction now. Only thing though, they still couldn't communicate through mere words and Rikuo didn't really think that counting from one to ten in English would help their communication problems any either.
The young master's face split into a thoughtful and somewhat troubled expression trying to think of ways to communicate through other than words. His expression lifted and he raised his right hand to hold it against his chest. Really simple but this, if anything, should at least help them to get to know the boy's name at the least.
"Ri-ku-o." He pronounced slowly and repeated it once more.
The boy frowned for a few seconds before understanding entered his eyes.
"Harry." He said with a small gesture to himself.
"Ha-ri?" Rikuo repeated but it didn't come out as he wanted it to.
The boy chuckled softly.
"I suppose that's close enough." He said and then turned his eyes to the remaining four, landing on the floating head of Kubinashi with a quirked look.
"Kubinashi." Rikuo pointed the blond yokai out, said yokai feeling a bit self-conscious at the way the strange boy was eyeing his neck part, or rather lack thereof, with an almost nostalgic expression.
"Yuki-Onna." Rikuo went on, the girl yokai giving a huff and her mouth slightly pursed.
"Aotabo." The large yokai held a hand up in greeting with a smile.
"And, Kurotabo." He finished off, the assassin monk clasping his hat in-between his forefinger and thumb as he tilted it.
Rikuo smiled and kept smiling as the seconds of silence after their awkward introductions stretched on. Behind him Aotabo leaned down with an unsure look.
"Now what Waka?"
"I have no idea." Rikuo said still with a smile.
"I see." Aotabo said and straightened again.
The boy, Hari, tilted his head to the side with an open eyed look in expectation. When the group of five and the boy who appeared to be their leader still didn't opt to say anything more he scrunched his eyebrows together and bit down on his lip in thought. The other yokais watched the raven haired boy do this, while he mumbled to himself seemingly arguing something, before he opened his mouth again.
"Could I…?" He said tentatively, reaching out a hand towards Rikuo carefully.
The bespectacled boy frowned in confusion.
The green eyed boy sighed, other hand coming to scratch at his scalp a bit frustratingly and they could guess why. He was obviously trying to say something but being from two different languages was a large hindrance. Instead the boy stretched out his hand further, looking at Rikuo imploringly. When Rikuo made no move he shook his hand lightly meaningfully.
"You… want me to take your hand?" Rikuo asked, holding out his hand questioningly.
The boy smiled and nodded when he say the shorter boy's movement, he went to grasp it but Yuki-Onna stepped into his path.
"Yuki-Onna!" Rikuo berated her.
"It's not safe Rikuo-Sama." She insisted.
"She's right Waka." Kurotabo agreed.
The young master sighed loudly, pushing the snow yokai out of the way with a stern look.
"I can take care of myself."
"But Waka-"
"I believe he won't harm me." Rikuo stated his opinion strongly.
Rikuo took the remaining steps separating the boys and held out his hand again with a gentle smile. The dark haired boy sent one back and slowly let his hand fall into Rikuo's, clasping it in his.
What happened next surprised Rikuo and he did second guess himself once before a feeling of calmness entered his mind. Like how he could at times feel his other self, his yokai self inside, he could now feel another foreign presence. He was aware that he was still standing with his hand clasped in the other boy's one and looking at him, but his half of his mind was somewhere else, in a separate place. The others unaware of what was going on did nothing and Rikuo felt proud of them that they would hold themselves back when he told them to. Then that foreign presence strayed closer, having kept a cautious distance in the beginning before moving to make contact with Rikuo.
'Rikuo?'
Rikuo was slightly surprised when he recognized the voice as the one belonging to the other boy, and the fact that the voice had pronounced his name in perfect Japanese.
'Hari?' Though slightly annoying; it seemed that the boy's name was still hard for him to pronounce.
'It's working! What a relief.' Hari said in his head and though his lips did not actually move to form the sentence they were smiling with relief.
'But I thought you couldn't speak Japanese?' Rikuo asked confused.
'Well, no, but my old professor once told me that you could communicate with any other human being despite the difference in language while in a mind link. First time I tried it out though, I'm glad I didn't give you a headache.'
It was very strange hearing the boy talk in fluent Japanese, and so much, and it took Rikuo a moment to get over the initial shock. He was unaware that meanwhile his subordinates were giving the pair strange looks when they just kept looking at each other and that Rikuo was now laughing softly.
'So we can only talk in this mind link?' Rikuo asked curiously.
'Yes…and no.' The boy said, hesitating.
'What?'
'I could, I'm not completely sure I can though, try and extract a copy of your language from your mind…' the voice trailed off.
'You could do that?' The young heir asked astounded, feeling his real eyes blink several times.
'Not sure, completely, and this will definitively give you a headache.'
'But we would be able to talk?'
'Technically, yes, however I've never done this before. I've only read it in a book and been told some details about.'
'Other than a headache, will anything else happen?'
'Never heard of anything else happening, if the person is allowing you to extract the information…'
'Then do it.'
'You sure?' Hari asked him unsurely. 'We could still talk like this.'
'I don't think holding hands all the time just to communicate is that practical.' Rikuo said with a small laugh.
'You got a point there.' Hari chuckled. He was silent for a few seconds before speaking again. 'Right, if you're really sure?'
'I'm sure.'
Rikuo felt Hari's presence dig deeper into his mind and he forced himself not to react towards the uncomfortable feelings it caused him. It delved deeper as it searched and Rikuo, getting an idea, tried thinking of when he was younger and how he spent all those hours and days learning the different signs of Hiragana and the like. It seemed to help as Hari's presence latched onto those memories and stayed there. He told himself to relax and just waited as Hari copied whatever he needed. When he was done he retreated.
'Rikuo?' He asked then all of a sudden, apprehension clouding his voice.
Rikuo felt rather than noticed how his other yokai self burst to the front of his mind. Before he could say anything to Hari, he was pushed behind his yokai part and he felt his body changing into the form that was caused by the one fourth of his blood that he had inherited from his grandfather.
Back in the parlor the other yokai watched the raven haired boy release their master's hand in a rush before the appearance of yokai Rikuo took the place of human Rikuo. They were stunned at the change and Yuki-Onna's eyes glittered in amazement and adoration.
"Rikuo-Sama!" She called happily.
Hari backed away, green eyes guarded and worried.
"Rikuo? Is that you?" He asked again, this time out loud.
He earned surprised looks from the others for his sudden ability to speak Japanese. Yokai Rikuo had a confident smirk in place as he hefted a hand on his hip, his black kimono and blue haori jacket rustling with the movement. His white and black hair stood out in a long line at the back of his head while some strands wisped across his forehead and the sides of his face. What was most noticeably though about his appearance were the deep red eyes, accentuated by a black simple black mark on each temple, he sported which were in that moment focused on the raven haired boy.
"You've got some interesting skills." Yokai Rikuo said in a deep voice that could, if you listened close enough, be traced back to the much lighter voice of human Rikuo. "However you're not a yokai, and not an onmyoji either from the looks of it."
"Yokai? Onmyoji?" Hari asked perplexed.
"What are you? I sensed humanity in you but also something else." The other continued.
His subordinates kept silent as they watched the interaction between their master and the strange human. They were surprised and confused that he had expressed an interest in the human and the fact that he hid something that even their master did not know of.
"What are you?" Hari threw back at him, ignoring the upset cries his, in their opinion, insolent and rude question invoked. "What did you do to Rikuo?"
"I am Rikuo." The yokai said and added, "As well as he," Hari frowned. "Only I'm the quarter of his blood that is yokai."
"So where is he?"
"In here," The yokai gestured lightly to his head with a crooked grin. "Of course, until the night passes into day again."
Red eyes thinned slightly and a hand came to hold his chin in thought.
"Now answer me. What are you?"
The raven haired boy shivered involuntarily at the stare that seemed to pierce straight through him, chilling his insides. He was scared of that yokai, really scared, but at the same time somewhat sensed that the other wouldn't attack him if he did not do so first. The same if he refused to answer his questions.
Hari swallowed twice before he, with a wary frown, answered the yokai.
"A wizard."
"I'm not quite familiar with the term. Explain."
"A human that wields magic."
"Magic?" The yokai repeated.
"Rikuo-Sama," Yuki-Onna spoke up, clearly eager to help her master. "I have read a little about this in an old scroll from many years back, it spoke of a small group of humans from the west being able to conjure fire and water, amongst many more things, from these wooden sticks they commanded."
"It's called a wand." Hari corrected her automatically, at the same time confirming the girl's information, and the yokai's red eyes bore into his green ones.
"Even more interesting, let me see this wand." He commanded.
Hari's expression fell, causing a raised eyebrow to appear on yokai Rikuo's face, and he seemed sad and regretful all of a sudden.
"I don't have it anymore." The young master's silence urged the boy to continue. "They took it, broke it in half."
"Who are they?"
"The ministry, the magical government of Britain."
"Why?"
Hari's eyes flashed with anger but the yokai didn't even budge at the force of them.
"Because I killed their enemy and practically every damn follower he had." He said lowly, the disgust and hatred dripping from his words. "I'm no longer welcome in their world, shunned and hunted for turning dark…"
"Oh?" The yokai said with an amused smirk.
This seemed to anger Hari even more and the raven haired boy suddenly launched at him, his right hand lighting up with a red light that ruptured from it and went directly for the yokai. Rikuo dodged it by jumping to the side and they watched the light connect with the wall with a loud crash that created large hole in the wall. His subordinates sprung to action but he was faster. Before Hari had a chance of repeating his attack; Rikuo had him at sword point, lying flat on his back on the ground and with the yokai hunched over him. Hari's right wrist was securely captured beneath the yokai's left hand while the right held the katana that was close enough to the raven haired boy's throat to draw blood if he took a too deep breath.
The fear was back and it showed in Hari's green eyes. The boy had barely seen the other move before the yokai had incapacitated him. He breathed through his nose as he willed his racing heart to calm down.
"Hari," Yokai Rikuo said after a long outdrawn moment, his face no longer wearing a smirk, expression and eyes completely serious. "Join my clan and become part of my Night Parade of a Hundred Demons."
"What?" Hari said disbelievingly.
"I saved your life by bringing you into my home. Your life belongs to me."
Hari stared with wide eyes up at the yokai, speechless.
In the background, though Hari was unaware, stood a large group of yokai that had run to the room at the sound of the minor explosion. The former Supreme Commander stood at the front, taking in the scene where his grandson had the raven haired boy pinned to the ground. He had heard the last part where Rikuo had the boy stuck on the ground and so he was stunned and confused when his grandson asked a human to join the clan, more precisely his Hyakki Yako. The fact that the boy spoke Japanese now somehow slipped his mind in favor of this particular shock.
"My life belongs to no one." Harry hissed harshly, his voice coming out sounding almost reptile like. It scared the smaller yokais but only served to amuse the young master, as if he approved of it.
It belongs to me now." Yokai Rikuo stated, unperturbed by the boy's reaction. "You are indebted to me, to my other half who took you in and cared for you."
The boy's green eyes widened again before they became almost resigned.
"I'll become your family." The yokai nearly whispered with his head bent down close to Hari's ear.
The words got stuck in the boy's throat.
"It was not only you that copied something when our minds were connected." He continued and answered the boy's suspicions.
"How dare you." Hari whispered brokenly, his eyes filled with anger and such immense sorrow that it even touched the young heir.
"How dare you…" He repeated; anger gone and only pain and sorrow remaining.
The yokai's red eyes watched how the raven haired boy's eyes shimmered but he did not let any tears fall. This impressed and pleased the heir, as he had taken part of the boy's memories containing what happened to his family and close friends, anyone that he had hold dear to his heart. He would be proud to have the wizard be a part of his clan and the knowledge that he most probably would be the only one to have a wizard part of his Hyakki Yako was only a small bonus.
Yokai Rikuo removed his katana from the boy's throat, releasing him and standing up though the boy remained on the ground.
"I swear to protect you for as long you will remain a part of my clan and swear your loyalty to me and this clan." He said, pointing his katana at the boy and speaking louder this time so that everyone else in the room would be able to hear. "What is your answer?"
The room seemed to bathe in stunned and tense anticipation. Their young master was serious but could someone who only arrived this very same day swear his lifelong loyalty to the young heir?
The boy, Hari, slowly sat up and stood to his feet, swaying before steadying himself somewhat. He looked at Rikuo for a long time, until almost the other yokai and the young heir himself started to get worried, believing that the boy would say no.
"Tell me," He said softly, "Do you believe in prophesies?"
The random question confused and surprised many but two individuals recognized this as a final test given from the raven haired boy to the young heir. The grandfather's eyes turned to look upon his grandson in expectation of how he would answer the boy's inquiry.
Rikuo seemed to think about the question carefully before he focused his whole attention on the boy again.
"I believe but only in the path I carve and fight for myself, nothing else."
Green eyes held red ones for another long moment before the boy replied.
"I swear on my magic and life, that I will never betray you if you do not betray me first."
Rikuo nodded his acceptance of the vow.
Hari nodded once, his eyes blinking close as he tipped over from fatigue only to be caught in the arms of the young heir who he has now sworn his life to. Rikuo held the boy carefully, a hidden and small gentle smile resting on his features.
FIN
AN: :heaves THE largest sigh: It's finished! I can't believe I actually finished this…and just look at the word count. No way did I think it would become THIS long…I'm telling you, you should fear the existence of plot bunnies, they are puuure eviiil but I think I've said that before... Right, so I'm guessing that at the end of this story you really wanna know what happened to Harry back in Britain, am I right? I'm gonna give you a short summary and hope that suffices. :dodges tomatoes and pies:
Short background summary: Around the time after Harry's 4th year things started to go bad rapidly, Voldemort rose quickly to his former glory and people were sent into a hysteric frenzy when Deatheaters started killing people left and right, front, back and center. The search for Voldemort's horcruxes happened a lot sooner and Harry's 5th year was spent searching for these with the help of Dumbledore, OfP and his close friends. Snape taught Harry as much of the mind arts as he had time for to help Harry shield his mind from Voldemort as well as use it as a weapon. In the summer before 6th year they all clashed together in a huge battle around Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. While Harry managed to kill Voldemort on the fourth or fifth day the battle still carried on for another week until the Deatheaters started fleeing in all directions. By this point most of Harry's family (the Weasley's, Hermione, etc), close friends (Luna, Neville, Lee, etc) and professors (Dumbledore, McGonagall, etc) had mostly, if not all, been killed (Dumbledore died when retrieving a horcrux about the same way like in the books). Driven on by his hatred and sorrow for the deaths of his family and friends, Harry embarks on a very personal vendetta that includes hunting down and killing every single Deatheater until he can't find any left. By this time Harry is not the innocent boy he once was, he's marked as dark and taken into custody when found passed out outside a demolished house belonging to a Deatheater. His wand is taken and broken before he can even say 'Sniveling Snorkacks' and thrown into a temporary holding cell in waiting to be transported to Azkaban that is in the middle of being restored. One the day that he is to be transported to the prison he manages to accumulate enough wandless magic to apparate himself away. After this he is on the constant run from the ministry and his attempts at escaping forces him to leave the country to avoid capture. A year is spent apparating and fleeing when ministry officials and Aurors catch up to him. During this time he also masters his animagus form to help him stay inconspicuous. When found again and in a last attempt to escape far enough so that that they won't be able to track him down, Harry does a series of long distance apparitions which eventually brings him to Japan and exhausted and weak at the front entrance of the infamous Nura Clan. You know the rest.
Index of terminology:
Yokai – demon
Waka – Master
-Sama – A form of respect, mainly used to refer to someone of a much higher rank than yourself
-kun – (in this case) used to refer to a male of the same age as Rikuo
-chan – (in this case) used to refer to a girl which Rikuo finds endearing
Jichan – Grandpa
Sugegasa – a conical hat
Yukata – a lighter and simpler variant of a kimono, usually worn during the summer and on summer festivals
Haori – a hip- or thigh-length kimono-like jacket
Hyakki Yako – The Night Parade of a Hundred Demons (if you like you can read more about it on Wikipedia)
Neko – cat
Onmyoji – simply(lazily) put? a person protecting people from and warding against evil spirits (yokai)
Katana – Japanese sword
Cont. AN: I think that's all the words…if you still find some things confusing, which might be 'cause you haven't seen NnM…then I suggest you just take a visit to wikipedia's page for the show (Just search for 'Nurarihyon no Mago' and you'll find it) or better yet... WATCH the show! XD
Now I will say goodbye for now and hope that if you've read this far then you'll also have some energy left to leave a review telling me what you thought of this story. :gives you huge puppy dog eyes: /Lin